Dogan Mehmet's New Album Released

LONDON EVENING STANDARD Friday 17 August 2012Outlandish (Hobgoblin) ****Dogan Mehmet is one of Britain’s most intriguing folk musicians drawing on his dual Turkish and English heritage. Outlandish, his second album, begins with Lord Bateman, what might be a signature track which Mehmet describes as Anglo Ottoman funk. Infused with rippling kanun and oriental violin, it is based on an English ballad about a forbidden English Turkish love affair. Cut this Cloth is a powerful original song about the warp and weft of ethnic identity – “you see the world is full of many colours” –anthemic in flavour. He’s backed by the eight-strong Boombox Karavan, a versatile band with guitars, violin, accordion and percussion that ranges from folk rock to nimble Cypriot dance tunes. Dogan Mehmet has an original and infectious talent. SIMON BROUGHTON - LONDON EVENING STANDARD

Not sure where Mehmet fits in the various nu/psych/indie sub-genres of Brit folk, but his thrilling Turkish take on English traditional song deserves recognition as more than mere novelty. The UK-born second-generation Turkish-Cypriot reinvents centuries-old English folk standards such as "Lord Bateman" and "Rakish Young Fellow" as rollicking gypsy-punk celebrations with clattering Balkan beats in a style he dubs 'Anglo-Ottoman funk'. The collision is irresistible - he thinks nothing of breaking into a Cypriot fiddle-dance tune in the middle of an ancient English ballad, like Fairport Convention crossed with Gogol Bordello.NIGEL WILLIAMSON - UNCUT